Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) is reportedly entertaining the thought of producing a C-segment car – based on a Renault-Nissan model – to replace the Mitsubishi Lancer after it failed to register any significant sales figures in Europe.
According to JATO Dynamics, an automotive intelligence firm, only 2,767 units of the Mitsubishi Lancer were sold through September in Europe as opposed to 396,155 units recorded for the Volkswagen Golf.
The Renault-Nissan Alliance and MMC had agreed to cooperate on multiple levels involving the sharing of technologies and products between the companies. From the collaboration, two new models are set to arrive with the first – based on the Renault Latitude sedan – aimed at the North American and Canadian market.
The second model is said to be available globally and will compete in the C-segment arena, with rivals such as the Honda Civic, Ford Focus, Mazda 3 and the like. “We don’t have any limitations [for the compact]. If there’s a market for our vehicle we would like to sell there,” Osamu Masuko, CEO of MMC, told Automotive News Europe.
As of now, it is still unclear as to whether the new model will be badged as a Nissan or a Renault with discussions still ongoing as to where it will be assembled. Seeing as how the collaboration involved MMC and the Renault-Nissan Alliance, we could be looking at a Renault Fluence-based C-segment sedan which is currently on sale in Malaysia.
GALLERY: Mitsubishi Lancer GTE
GALLERY: Renault Fluence driven
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i felt that the lancer GT looks better than the fluence.
Fluence really dated design.
Don’t worry about the looks. Looks are the least of their worries at the moment and the appearance can always be changed when rebadging. The important thing would be what’s underneath the skin and in the cabin.
Smart guys always buy original Lancer.
some people buy inspira and replace to lancer facelift but forgot to replace every glass that have proton logo:p
Smart guy wont buy Renault dressed as Mitsu and act like Mitsu-ish, Only weird or stupid people like it.
The Megane and Fluence are WAY more successful and popular than the Lancer. Heck, even in Malaysia there are probably more Megane and Fluence than Lancer on the roads… despite the Fluence just being launched not long ago, and the Megane only being available as a hot hatch with a really high price tag. Admittedly being offered as a Proton didn’t help, but still. The Lancer is not a successful car.
lol this is so funny, I can’t believe how “tastefully” people are,Buying boring shitebox rather than successful petrolhead fun toy.Oh, I can believe that because people doesn’t want have fun in their car.
@Scor, simple. Not everyone is a petrolhead. Once you’ve learned that there’re different kinds of people in the world with expectations and demands different from you, then you’d understand. Don’t go and diss people for their choice of car. That’s rather immature.
You also sort of lost the point. The Lancer’s interior is rather dated now and it can’t match its segment rivals for practicality. Even the Mirage/Attrage has a more practical interior… It’s fine if you can get past that and just want a good chassis for the fun but you don’t sell in good volumes based on that because true petrolheads are not the majority.
The Lancer sorely needs…something new.
is that meant the will be rebadged from that fluence?
Depends on which facelift you are looking at. The 2012 Korean facelift (what we have here) is indeed really dated. The 2012 European facelift looks good (it’s identical to the 2014 Korean facelift).
In Europe Lancer is a useless car but in Malaysia they are ah beng sport car!
Mitsubishi.
Yes, we still exist. And yes, we don’t only make air conditioners and refrigerators.
In the last 5-10 years, I can’t think of any decently exciting Mitsubishi so far. Bar the Evo X, the Mirage is cheap and nasty, the Outlander doesn’t look that interesting though the PHEV technology is interesting, Lancer is dated, Pajero Sport is also dated, Shogun is also getting a bit long in the tooth, and the iMiev, for the price, get a Nissan Leaf.
They should sell themselves to the Renault Nissan alliance, I believe, Carlos Ghosn is the one guy who can actually turn this around. Just look at Nissan.
It’s amazingly sad how badly the 1991 Asian Financial Crisis affected them in comparison with the other automakers. They were effectively crippled for quite a while after that. In addition, having the ownership being passed around before ending up with the Mitsubishi keiretsu again probably did them no favors either. Gotta give them credit for their determination, though. I think they’re still in the midst of their comeback, having only become profitable again in the past few years.
I think much will be hanging on their next-generation Triton/L200 since it is quite an important model for them, contributing to a significant amount of sales. From what little we’ve heard about the new Triton, it doesn’t sound encouraging. They seem to want to reuse the current drivetrain already serving on the Triton. It isn’t exactly a bad drivetrain but with offerings like Nissan’s new Navara, they might have a hard time convincing people to buy their pick-up.
What is for sure is that old conceptions regarding Mitsubishi need to be altered. They’re being a lot more cautious now.
Yeah, they really got put in a bad position.
Thing is, Mitsubishi has been synonymous to RALLIART and their sporty cars. Now, the Mirage is a tiny econobox, Lancer is a medium econobox and so on….
Triton, I think it will be a DOA. Navara will win this round, and even probably wipe the Hilux…
I might get a lot of flak for this but I think that it’s precisely their very sporty cars that crippled them during the financial crisis. When a financial crisis hits, sporty cars mean nothing. During difficult times, most people logically tend towards the safer choice, looking towards cars that will minimize the cost of ownership and motoring in general, and it must be a reliable thing too.
Let’s compare Toyota and Mitsubishi. Toyota had carefully fostered an image of reliability at the time while the first thing that comes to mind when talking about Mitsubishi during that time would be their most iconic machine, the Lancer. Evolution, most probably. To make matters worse (here comes a bit of background), Mitsubishi had been at the heart of the biggest automotive scandals ever a few years prior to the crisis – they covered up defects instead of initiating a recall. When they were at last exposed, many of their top management team was arrested, including their CEO back then and the news was made very public (as it should be) and Mitsu was shamed into the dirt. So when the 1991 crisis hit, that scandal would have still been fresh on people’s minds. Reliability and trustworthiness would not have been associated with Mitsu. While today Mitsubishi has become one of the most transparent automakers, that history of theirs cost them much more than I care to fathom. Sketchy track record coupled with their performance car image, they would not have been on the list of potential car buyers.
While you can say that Subaru, Mitsubishi’s arch-rival back in the day, survived a lot better even though they’re also focused on performance cars, they were a lot more focused than Mitsubishi ever was. While Mitsubishi tried to do almost everything with MPVs, SUVs, performance cars, normal passenger cars, etc, Subaru was just focused on a few performance models. Some would even venture to say that Subaru’s are engineered better than Mitsubishi’s cars. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know, but I have caught such sentiment before. Also, Subaru has Fuji Heavy Industries behind them.
I need not mention the premium brands (performance focused or not) here because they’re in a whole different league compared to ol’ Mitsu. Premium brands have the brand image and the richer demographic could still have afforded to have these staggering purchases made.
A lot of factors led to the Mitsubishi we see today. Personally, I don’t blame them. They’re only doing what they need to survive in a cutthroat market. I might sound foolishly optimistic, but I don’t think they’ll be wiped out. They are starting to participate in motorsports again, which is a promising sign and they also have a couple of promising ideas within them. Moreover, having learnt their lesson, they’re a lot more focused now.
It’s just that the Mitsubishi of old is probably no longer. They’re actively trying to shift their image to eco-driving, actually, but like sudonano said, old associations still remain.
Lastly, if you’ve read this far, congratulations! You have learned the art of patience! Or you’re just really interested in what this stranger on the interwebs have to say. Anyway, thanks for reading.
Yes, I made it till the end.
Didn’t know about the recall thing, but Mitsu does have their heavy industries behind them….
And A+ for research :D
It’s an open secret that Toyota is heavily protected by the Japanese government. Whereas Mitsubishi has to survive on its own.
And Fuji Heavy Industries is also owned by the mighty Toyota so that Subaru can concentrate on selling very focussed models unlike Mitsubishi.
If I were you, I would’nt put my money claiming that the Navara will wipe out the Hilux. Navara’s reputation in the 4×4 circle is nowhere near the Hilux.
But I cannot say the same for the Vios,though.
Say goodbye to Mitsubishi-made Lancer..Sayonara *sigh*
Renault Fluence front/grill similar look with Mitsubishi Attrage. :)
Fluence is a good car, with great after sales service, with ugly face unfortunately. if mitsu can dress it up beautifully as lancer, then why not.
After sales can’t be taken over by Mitsubishi, they have to do it themselves…
They probably want better sales in Europe, but sadly that’s really hard for Japanese brands. They are too cold…
A Mitsubishi Lancer on a W xxxx A number plate ? Now I’ve seen it all.
Sad to say, the Mitsubishi Lancer family is sick and dying. If Mitsubishi can’t afford to design a worthy successor, they should just let the Lancer die an honourable death, and not bastardise what’s left of its heritage. The Lancer has given birth to many cousins all over the world, including our Saga, Wira and Inspira. The world (at least, car enthusiasts) will remember and love the Lancer for the brilliant car it was in its heyday.
I do wonder why they don’t shelf the nameplate for a while. Like give the Lancer a decade of rest, you know? But you can see they’re shifting their focus to their SUV line and their EV line.
So I have a hunch that eventually, their ASX will take the Lancer’s place as the car that defines them. Just a hunch.
That would be a good move like Toyota and Nissan did,Supra,Silvia and other legendary JDM. If they get some idea for next generation Lancer they can revive it back like Honda revive the NSX family….
Mitsu is more like a prostitute.
So many sleeping partners…Proton, Renault, Nissan, etc…
As long as u want with the right price, they’ll give.
This is it…dick move of Mitsubishi again…what? Wrong wheel Drive Lancer with puny powered engine?? NO JUST NO!!! Mitsubishi please,other car manufacturer want to get their glory back at 80’s and 90’s.Mitsubishi please look at 3000GT and FTO,look how awesome they are and please look at RALLIART history.Please Mitsu if you want to make EV car so why not make Lancer Hybrid?? WHAT ARE THEY THINKING!!!!!!??? dear Mitsubishi,you has put shame on petrolheads and car enthusiast. Next time boyycot their facelifted Renault fukin Lancer to put their name in shame……AAAARRRGGHHHH!!!!
Other than Mitsubishi, Nissan or Renault, don’t forget – can also rebadge as Proton Inspira II.
The current Mitsu Lancer looks very dated already, inside-out.I think buyers out there don’t mind if MMC is using the latest Renault-Nissan’s C-segment’s platform, electricals, infotainment & suspension components for the next Lancer model, as long as MMC can come out with a whole new & exciting exterior/interior design, better suspension tuning and perhaps still using MMC’s own powertrain, at least there still some Mitsubishi’s soul inside the car.The Mirage also deserved an upgrade such as turbocharged version of the current engine. And hopefully MMC could also make a Galant successor aimed at D segment! MMC has just gone too far with all those eco & electric stuffs…
Rally package for Mirage would be good,it would be awesome like Volkswagen Polo,Ford Fiesta and Peugeot 208 from WRC.
Well,thy might get the shitty part of the deal n be given a Dacia to work on…!
They r slowly being wiped out mitsubishi…very few models n what products they have is jus not competitive in the big markets….thy r living off their past glories…probably in few yrs someone will jus buy off their assets..they really should jus make a c segment sedan along with their triton/L200…jus put your R&D on these products,make them good thn diversify frm their
Their C segment sedan is doing really, really bad. It’s not a good segment to be in anyway. Too many really good C segment competitors around, especially outside of Asia.
I agree: Competition in the C-segment is very stiff and only the bigger players can afford to make a car stand out in some way above the rest of the pack. That’s why I think they’re doing the smart thing by rebadging rather than developing a replacement from scratch. This way, they don’t have to drop out of the segment altogether while they can save on development costs. Then they can focus their limited resources into high growth areas like the SUV market as well as environmentally-friedlier motoring (the world is slowly moving towards that, like it or not).
*there
I know Mitsubishi is in financial difficulties for the last few years. Dropping sales won’t help much for MMC to return to sustained profitability. IMO, one of the reasons for Mitsu’s continued decline is the blatant cost-cutting on all its current models.
Take the Lancer, for example. The cheap plasticky dashboard is a letdown from the day it was launched. Triton, Pajero Sport, Pajero, ASX, Mirage (lift-type door handles, really?!) and Attrage all have cheap feeling interior despite their prices.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the brand, being owner of a Triton. I just don’t want to see the company continue to slide into mediocrity. Mitsubishi seriously need to improve the build and material quality of its next generation cars to be able to return to glory.
I say – WHY NOT PREVE?
(Let the bash fest roll!)
At this stage rebadge is the only way out..
Sayona-ra Mitsubishi!!!!
Dont worry mitsu! proton will re-rebadge your rebadged lancer
Whatever.
Bought inspira (photostat lancer with good handling) dirt cheap (81k,manual,e.Msia).
Now got some money left, waiting delivery of 1.6premium iriz.
Minimum money for maximum driving pleasure!
Say whatever you want!
Oh by the way, I am not a proton employee/salesman and
and the same goes to my family members.
The current Lancer has been around for a very long time.No surprise they dont do well in europe.Why buy an old car when VW or Renault or any european manufacture keep throwing choices at u.
They just cant compete with the refinement and good fc which newer european car offer.
Even the proper Pajero has moved upmarket which is sad as i do believe people wants it for the reliable and affordable 4×4 like it was.
I am saying a proper Pajero as the Pajero sport is not a pure Pajero.Its an insult to the Pajero herritage.
If Proton were to take this rebadging route, bashers who don’t understand the automotive business will have a field day critisizing the move.
come on..really..the Lancer GT is handsome looking car and won best car COTY ( Car Of The Year ) 2007
it dont need to be based on the silly looking Renault.
if the Japanese can come out with great models like the iconic & legendary Evo series like 10 already now .. dont tell me they have run out of ideas..
Come on Mitsubishi i am sure you can do better.